Although males aged between eighteen and twenty-five are required to register for possible conscription in the US, there has been no compulsory military service since 1973. Even before that date, the ideal of a voluntary army and exemptions for those with families or other reasons not to fight had precluded the idea of universal service.

Moreover, conscription has been a fierce battleground for issues of patriotism and independence, especially in the era of the Vietnam War.

Colonial practices of universal white male military readiness were replaced in the nineteenth century by a voluntary military although wartime conscription was instituted by both the North and the South in the Civil War. The Selective Service Act of 1917 authorized wartime conscription, but lapsed thereafter. The first peacetime draft, in 1940, accompanied preparation for the Second World War, but also lapsed afterwards, in 1947.

Reconstituted in 1948 as a response to dwindling interest in the military however, the Selective Service was extended for war and peacetime needs in 1950, 1951, 1955, 1959, 1963 and 1967.

As protest erupted against the Vietnam War, the draft became a special focus of attention. On the one hand, skillful use of exemptions (especially for college) allowed middle- and upper-class white males to avoid service: Bill Clinton was later accused of dodging the draft while George Bush, Jr. served in the Texas National Guard. Other opponents of the war favored direct resistance: burning cards, storming induction centers or leaving the country. The burden of military service fell on poor and minority inductees, where the lottery ranking birthdates from 1 to 365/6 (for leap year) evoked the specter of Shirley Jackson.

Inductions ended in 1973 and registration ended a year later. Since 1980, males have been required to register, but military actions have been conducted by all-volunteer forces.